91

E.—l.

School Attendance.—The following is an abstract of the attendance at the public schools of this district from the institution of the Otago education scheme, in the year 1856, to the present time :—

The numbers for the year show an increase in the average attendance of 821 on that of the previous year. The attendance was considerably affected during the June and September quarters by the prevalence of measles, whooping cough, and other diseases incidental to childhood ; indeed throughout the whole year the attendance and results have been prejudicially affected by sickness. The number of Maori and half-caste children attending the schools in this district is small. The number in attendance at the end of the year was as. follows : Maoris, 2; half-castes or other children of mixed race living as members of a Native tribe, 27; half-castes or other children of mixed race living among Europeans, 46 : total, 75. Number of schools in which there were Maoris or half-caste scholars or those of mixed race, 17. Finance. —Appended hereto is an abstract of the income and expenditure of the Board for the year 1884. The sum paid for teachers' salaries, inclusive of bonuses on classification, and bonuses for teaching pupil-teachers, amounted to £58,531 11s. 2d. A statement of the amounts contributed by the Board to each school for teachers' salaries and for allowances to Committees in aid of school fund, and of the sums paid for the erection and improvement of school buildings, will be found in the Appendix.* The following table shows the average salary paid to the various classes of teachers in the district. Head-teachers have besides a free residence, and in most cases a glebe of some size :— £ s. d. Head-teachers, male ... ... ... ... 206 13 9 Head-teachers, female ... ... ... ... 114 5 Of Male assistants ... ... ... ... ~, 188 18 9-J-Female assistants ... ... ... ... 104 5 5-J-Male pupil-teachers ... ... ... ~. 45 0 0 Female pupil-teachers ... ... .... ... 35 0 0 Teachers of sewing ... ~. ... ~. 20 0 0 School Committees' Accounts.—An abstract of the income and expenditure of the various School Committes will be found in the Appendix.! The Board's contributions for the year amounted to £5,978 13s. 6d., while the districts raised locally £1,445 4s. 2d. As in the previous year the Board, appointed its chief clerk auditor, and arranged that the account books, &c, of the various Committees should be forwarded to the office to be audited. This plan has been found to work well, no difficulty whatever having been experienced in carrying out the arrangements. The Auditor's report shows that the Committees' accounts are, with few exceptions, properly kept; and a perusal of the detailed statement of accounts will show that the Committees, as a whole, are expending their funds in a judicious manner. The total balance to the credit of the Committees was £1,856 7s. Id., being £251 6s. Id. in excess of the balance for the previous year. Inspection.—With one exception, all the schools were examined and visited. Of the 164 schools examined, 15 gained a gross percentage of 90 and upwards; 73 between 80 and 90; 42 between 60 and 70; 3 between 50 and 60; and 7 less than 50. During the year, 11,698 pupils were presented for examination in the standards, of which 10,963 were examined, and 8,394 passed. The number of absentees amounted to 735, about 6-J- per cent, of the number presented, being nearly double the percentage for last year. The increase of absentees was caused by the prevalence of measles in some parts of the district when the examination of the schools fell due. The percentage of passes in standards has this year risen to 77, as against 72 in 1883, and 73 in 1882. The Board has been highly gratified by the increased efficiency indicated by the results for the year. The following table contains a summary of the examination results for the year : — Table I.—Showing the number of pupils presented for examination, the number passed, the number absent from examination, the percentage of passes gained in standards, the number of schools in which each standard was represented, and the average age at which the pupils were presented in each standard : —

* See ante, pp. 41-18, t See ante, p. 6.

Year. to 'o o A o in o 6 A CD © "3 d A Numbe attenc coursi :r of Pupi ded at all e of the Y ils who in the ear. Average Daily Attend) for the Yea ance ir. at t] .ttendanoi le close of Year. the Dunedin. All other Schools. Totals. All Dunedin. other Schools. Totals. Dunedin. All other Schools. Totals. 1856-57 .866 .. :877 .. .883 .. .884 .. 5 51 173 159 166 7 71 356 446 472 1,193 3,191 6,722 6,464 2,754 16,422 21,086 21,663 3,947 19,613 27,808 28,217 115 888 2,176 4,000 4,025 121 1,680 9,573 12,814 13,610 236 2,568 11,749 16,814 17,635 934 2,585 4,534 4,579 2,136 11,943 10,011 16,835 3,070 14,528 20,545 21,414